This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Collection of letters and telegrams centered around the remodeling of a house called "Dunlora" aka Merry Hill, located at 8605 Park Heights Avenue in Pikesville Maryland. The house was built for Robert Brent Keyser in 1899 by the firm Hoppin and Koen of New York. The remodeling was done by American architect Grosvenor Atterbury. The vast majority of the letters are between Atterbury (and his firm) and Robert Brent Keyser. They describe various plans and issues surrounding the remodeling of the house. A few letters discuss construction at the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University. Some of the other names mentioned in the letters are J.L. Marshall & Son (the builders), Mr. Sperry, Judge Harlan, Morgan-Harjes, Mr. Manly, and Charles E. Reeder.
1912-1914
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Method of acquisition--Purchased;; Date of acquisition--2011. Accession number--2011.020.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Robert Brent Keyser was the son of the famed capitalist William Keyser. They both were involved in the copper industry, the railroads and Johns Hopkins University. He served as the president of the Baltimore Copper Smelting and Rolling Co., director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and was chairman of the trustees for Johns Hopkins University. He played an important role in the development of the Homewood Campus at Johns Hopkins University and in the rebuilding of the Baltimore after the fire of 1904.
Grosvenor Atterbury (1869-1956) was a New York City architect, urban planner and writer. A graduate of Columbia University's School of Architecture, he worked in the office of McKim, Mead & White before opening his own practice.